Happy Monday everyone!

This is the last week we are collecting donations and we will be delivering our loot to Swedish this Friday, 12/15! I have added in a few more items to each of the families’ wish lists in the gym.

I also wanted to add that you can still sign up to bring in an item even though someone else might’ve already signed up to bring it in. We don’t have to fulfill everything on the wish list but I don’t see why we shouldn’t! ‘Tis the season of giving, if you are able to.

More information on the families HERE.

I’m so grateful to see the lists almost all full! Thanks again for being a part of our supportive community and for helping us give back!

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‘Tis the season of extra giving! We have posted up the wish lists of the two families we are adopting this holiday season (via the Swedish Cancer Institute Holiday Families Program) with their corresponding boxes below. If you are able to, please sign up to donate an item from their list and bring it to the gym by 12/14. Please place a check mark next to your name & item(s) when you bring it in please!

Family K is a single mother of 4 children with breast cancer, now post-surgery and currently in radiation treatment. She has no local support & works full time to support her two youngest children & college expenses for her two eldest children. She is often very busy with her demanding work, daily radiation treatment & driving kids to activities. Her focus has been to get through treatment & support her children, but has struggled with finding time for herself. Family K could use some extra comfort this year during the holidays. Any help would be much appreciated.

Family X is diagnosed with stage III lung cancer. He has not been able to work for the past six months due to his medical treatment & unfortunately, his work does not provide vacation/sick hours so he has not been able to receive any income. He is receiving food stamps & recently lost the room he was renting for $500 that he shared with his two sons. He is looking into shelter housing at this time. Despite his situation, the patient continues to remain positive and upbeat about his treatment. He is a really humble guy and asked for very little items on his wish list. He shared that he would be grateful to receive any assistance.

“Monetary donations to the Holiday Family Project help keep this lovely tradition going. If you wish to financially support the program you can donate online at HERE or make a check payable to Swedish Medical Center Foundation, Indicating Holiday Families Program Donation in the memo. If choosing this option, we will gladly provide a Swedish Foundation envelope to you.”

Thanks in advance for helping us give back to families in need during this holiday season!

One of our goals at Foundation CrossFit is to be a positive steward of the community. This is exemplified in our free Community Classes, our October fundraisers over the years, and our charitable holiday activities. This year we are asking you all to help out a former athlete and beloved employee, Jessie Purcell. Those of you who have been with us over the years have worked with Jessie Purcell at our sister gym, CrossFit SLU. Jessie joined the team in 2012, and played an integral part in supporting our business and helping it grow into what it is today.

Jessie and Pao, both former employees of FCF, forever family

After finishing school, Jessie Purcell now works as the Department Head of Physical Education & Health at nearby Garfield High School. Health education has always been a passion for Jessie, and it is so inspiring to see her lead the charge for our upcoming generations, raising them to be healthy young adults.

This job does not come easy, as many of you know the stories of teachers having very little funding to support their students. This year we can all help by donating athletic clothing for her students for class. In fact, 10% of her students are listed as homeless this semester and are in need gym clothes, among other things.

We are making a call out to our current and former Foundation CrossFit or CrossFit SLU athletes: dig through your closets and dresser drawers to see if you have any old FCF/SLU apparel (and any other shorts/sweatpants) that you no longer wear. Bring them in and we will have a donation box set up in the gym for JP’s Kids. In addition, we are taking these donations as part of our December FCF BINGO! So you’ll be able to donate for a good cause and check a box off of your Bingo board.

Thank you and let’s make everyone’s holiday a better one!

December is just around the corner and the holiday season inspires us to give a little more. Last year we were approached by one of our athletes, Sharla S., to participate in her work’s yearly program in adopting families during the holiday season and I’m excited to say that we are participating again this year.

Sharla at Swedish with last year’s donations

The holidays are here and what better way to celebrate than giving to others in the local community who could use some extra cheer!? Many patients who receive care at Swedish Cancer Institute (SCI) find themselves overwhelmed as they try to manage treatment, work, and family obligations during the holiday season. To make this time of year a bit brighter, SCI has an annual tradition of supporting patients and families to provide food items, toiletries, and small gifts/comfort items. The donors remain anonymous and are given a “wish list” from the families. Most of these patients are in the middle of treatment and often don’t have the time or energy to even buy groceries for a holiday meal. One meal for these families means one less thing to worry about. For those interested in participating in this cause, donating one item from their personalized wish lists will go a long way towards making a difference in their lives.

Beginning this Friday, December 1st, we will have boxes and plastic bins out in the gym. There will be a sign up sheet with the families’ wish lists! Please sign up by writing your name and last initial in the box next to the item you are willing to donate and bring in your item(s) by Thursday December 14th. You may sign up for more than one item if you wish!

Thank you for helping us give to those in need!

The nutrition challenge has been over for two weeks and Thanksgiving has come and gone already! Hopefully everyone has been able to still maintain the good habits they practiced during the challenge. I definitely didn’t eat as much as I would have if I hadn’t participated in the challenge as I noticed I didn’t crave much carbs and didn’t eat a ton of sweets (which is huge for me since I have a sweet tooth). I probably also benefitted from getting over being sick, so that is a plus too. Let’s hope that I can practice the same will power (without the cold) for Christmas time.

Sarah and I are excited to keep the eating healthy momentum going and we’re already planning our challenge for 2018.  Get ready for a different approach and to put in some w o r k !

From the feedback that I have received so far, everyone had met their goals from the beginning of the challenge and almost everybody had learned something new.

  • Better understanding of balance in macros!
  • Some lost 5, 8, 10lbs!
  • Eating more veggies!
  • No more hangry mode!
  • Giving up booze for 5 weeks!
  • Trying new recipes!
  • Eliminating certain things from diet and not having an urge to reintroduce!
  • Logging meals!
  • Fully participating in the 5 weeks with no slip ups!
  • Loving the gifs Sheena entered in each follow up email!

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Again, great work to you all! If you participated in this last challenge, did you miss our nutrition challenge wrap up e-mail? We have a survey we’d like you to fill out in case you missed it. Please fill it out HERE!

 

 

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Happy Friday Eve!

We’re finishing up our five-week nutrition challenge this week. You guys have put in a lot of hard work, dedication, and time into these last five weeks so you should be PROUD! Your will power, strength, and changes you’ve seen are the best reward after participating in a challenge like this and it should be enough. Try not to reward yourself with ALL of the things (“treats”) you omitted during the challenge.

Here are some tips and advice on how to ease back into non-challenge life, from our staff:

  • If you eliminated items and are feeling amazing, be deliberate with the reintroduction of those items (one item per 3rd day is recommended) to see how the body reacts to those items. Now is not the time to binge on “cravings” – Jessie
  • Think about all the things you can eat that make you feel great! Feel free to have the things you deliberately skipped during the challenge, but keep it to a single day of the week, see how it feels, then honestly figure out if it’s good for you. You may feel like sh!t with those not-so-clean choices. – Andrew
  • Don’t completely quit! You’ve set up new habits for prepping meals. You’ve probably saved some money not eating out. Continue the habit. Maybe instead of prepping for 5 days in the week, prep for three and be open to other options the other two. Remember why you decided to eat cleanly in the first place and that should be your motivation to continue. – Sheena
  • Our Nutrition Challenge is an effort to change the way people think about food, so the best way to “end” the challenge is to continue to live it and not treat it as a defined timeframe. – Tony
  • Pick one or two changes to adopt long term. I found that after each whole30/nutrition challenge, adhering to all the rules was too big of an expectation. But continuing on with a few nutrition modifications (ie lettuce shells instead of corn/flour tortillas for tacos) is much more realistic and manageable. – Sarah

Robyn is fired up for the 2017 American Masters weightlifting competition in Savannah, GA!

She will be lifting 8am PT (11am EST) tomorrow, Friday 11/10 — watch the livestream HERE.

Good luck Robyn!!

 

The year is quickly coming to an end and the Olympic Weightlifting program is looking to close it out with an exhibition of everyone’s hard work in an in-house weightlifting meet!

The next cycle which starts today, Monday November 6th, will run for four weeks and will finish on Saturday, December 2nd. Why not retest and see if you’ve progressed? This will be the last weightlifting cycle until January.

Everyone and anyone is able to participate in the mock meet. We will run it like an actual competition: you will have an opportunity to warm up to THREE ATTEMPTS to hit new PR’s in the snatch and then the clean & jerk in a competition format, without the pressure of performing in front of strangers.

Coaches Adrian and Andrew along with some of the seasoned competitive weightlifters will be running the event and providing guidance for those participating. It will be a great opportunity to show off the results of all the hard work everyone has been putting in!

Register using the google form below:

It’ll also be cool because the International Weightlifting Federation World Championships will be going on that entire week (and weekend) so you’ll have some live inspiration (and possibly witness some world records) during your performance!

A message from Kurt R.

I participate in Movember every year to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues, such as prostate and testicular cancer, as well as mental health and suicide prevention.
Since people know me for my beard, rather than do the whole “shave and grow a crappy mustache thing”, I let people vote on what colors I was going to dye my beard.  Each dollar donated counted as a single vote.  Last year, I raised almost $1800 and Pride and Seahawks beards tied, so I died my beard Pride rainbow colors one month and Seahawks colors the next!  It was a lot of fun and definitely helped to raise awareness of the very serious health issues men face regularly.  Last year I was especially thrilled to wear the Pride beard in loving support of all my LGBTQ friends and family.  Everybody should be able to hold their head up in Pride and it was the last I could do!  I would personally love for Pride to win this year, too!
Kurt has an appointment to get his beard dyed TODAY – which color/pattern will it be? we’ll find out soon – however, it is not too late to donate! Follow this LINK to donate to Kurt’s Movember cause.

Fall is here! Chilly mornings. Warm hoodies. Wool socks. Raindrops on… everything. Pretty leaves. Pumpkins. Short days. Bike lights. Coffee, lots of Coffee. While the weather is encouraging you stay inside, we challenge you to do the opposite! It’s a great time to begin moving with us. Bring your workouts indoors, we can help!

Try it! We are offering a free Community CrossFit class this Saturday (10/7) at 12PM!

This is a free, no obligation class. All levels welcome! Come in to sweat, join for the community!

Depending on your fitness level our Community CrossFit Class can be ‘just sweaty’ or ‘super tough’. We’ll guide you through it. You can RSVP on our online scheduling system, or just show up!

 Our last Foundations On-Ramp Course of 2017 will run October 17th through November 11th. The full course is 12 classes, 4-weeks. Click here for details.

Already an FCF Athlete? Refer a friend and earn a $25 credit for you and your friend! Details here.

October is just around the corner and there has been some buzz around the gym about our upcoming nutrition challenge. So here it is.. you’re invited!

WHO: YOU!
WHAT: NUTRITION CHALLENGE: “Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
WHEN: OCTOBER 1-8 education week, OCTOBER 9 – NOVEMBER 13.
KICK OFF: Saturday, OCTOBER 7th at 11am
Andrew will have a presentation followed by Q&A and discussion together over snacks!

THE DETAILS:
You have two ways to approach the challenge.
Keep It Simple: just honestly follow along the entire time.
Performance: record your work/progress by submitting in a daily self-scoring sheet. Sheena will keep track of these sheets! You will note your: nutrition (what/when/how much), sleep hours, and exercise (intensity).

I WANNA DO IT! What do I do?
-Declare what you will be doing. Our mantra this year, “Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Or is it Paleo? Whole30? RP? Not sure? During the first week of October, we will explain what our mantra is as well as other viable options.
-Commit to 5 weeks of it.
-Decide which path to take on: Keep It Simple or Performance
-OPTIONAL: Take before/after photos for your personal reference.

We plan to make this interactive as much as possible, to stay motivated and inspired. We’ll start by having sign-ups on Tuesdays for meal-exchange every Thursday where we’ll meet-up for quick check-ins and some fun!

We’re excited to gather everyone together over food and healthier choices to supplement the hard work you put into the gym. Questions? Ask a coach, leave a comment, or send Coach Sheena an e-mail at sheena@foundationcrossfit.com.